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Topic: Being pulled over by police for odd reasons (Read 11579 times)

DS1, friend, and their dates are returning from the JROTC Dance when DS1 is pulled over. The deputy kept accusing him of drinking and driving. DS says no sir. After about 10 minutes DS suggests that he take the breathalyzer test. Ah no, they are free to go.

Fast forward several years. DS1 comes downstairs and says DS2 is in the driveway with a police car flashing his lights. I respond, well if he's done something silly he should get a ticket. (I assume it was similar to the incident above or DS2 was speeding.) Fifteen minutes go by and they are still there.

I go outside and the police officer is in his car. I go and ask DS2 what's happening. He doesn't know. The officer hasn't said anything that he did wrong. He talked to him, and his friend in the car, where they had been (the comic book store), if they lived here. I wait another 5 minutes and say, if you need us let us know. I go back inside and wait another 15 minutes. DS2 and friend finally come in. He has a ticket for not dimming his lights. Almost 45 minutes spent on this ticket? Really?

I chatted with some police acquaintances about it. It was obvious the officer's assumption was that two young men had been drinking. When it was obvious they hadn't he found the one thing it was almost immpossible to dispute. I suggested he fight it, but DS2 said he preferred to keep a low profile.

I got pulled over once because I'd been in the middle school parking lot (had dropped off son before officer was on scene).

Long story behind it--

Middle school parking lot has a clearly marked entrance and exit. At the time, where I worked put the middle school on my way to work (the hospital has since moved, I still work there but now go in the opposite direction), and middle son wanted me to drop him off. Well, when I pulled into the lot, I was following a light brown sedan, and there was another car parked (or so I thought, turned out to be occupied) where the other car was almost half blocking the exit. Middle son liked to be dropped off at the end nearer the entrance, the brown car pulled up to the other end and dropped off their child, and then squeezed out the exit (and you could tell they were maneuvering to do so). Well, I thought that surely if someone was in the car, they'd think about the fact that they were blocking the exit and move. I waited about as long as I dared (needing to get to work, after all), and then thought, "ok, they're parked, brown car got out, I'll be able to". Only to get up there and find that brown sedan was smaller than my sedan and it was just too tight a squeeze for my comfort, so I shifted into reverse just as the car door opened and the kid got out (10 minutes after I came into the lot! I had a clock in the car, I am not exaggerating) and ran behind my car. FINALLY, idjit-SS-parent moves. SRO had arrived just at the very tail end of this (to see me shift into reverse when I realized that I couldn't squeeze the gap even though I didn't *move* in reverse) and followed me for a bit, then pulled me over.

While he agreed that the other person had really made things difficult (and if he had a do over on the choice of who to follow, he would've ticketed the parent for obstructing the roadway), he had gotten curious because my car is registered to an address 200 miles away and wondered what someone from so far out of town was doing in the middle school parking lot. Explained that it was a relic of a really baaaaad divorce--when my ex took the only reliable working vehicle, my dad bought me a car, but to protect it from being considered an asset, my dad owns it, and we just never have bothered to legally change the ownership. That made total sense to him, and so that was the end of that (at the time, too, the state of the divorce was not yet final although the only thing pending was the judge's signature on the final paperwork).

I worked a 7pm to 4am shift at a hotel. I would drive home in my little Ford Ranger pickup, and at least twice I was followed by a deputy in a cruiser. The creepiest was when I was spotlighted by the sheriff's office helicopter and the spotlight followed me home. I got out, and looked up at the helicopter. The pilot must have determined I was not the human they were looking for and they turned off the spotlight. I had the chills for an hour after that!

He pulled us over assuming the car might be stolen. Presumably a car full of well dressed people in late middle age didn't then fit the profile...

Something similar happened to me. I live close to the Mexican border in an area noted for drug smuggling. At the time, my car was in the shop and I was driving a rental. I can't remember the make and model of the car, but it was a higher-end, sporty kind of thing - nothing like what I usually drive, but I wound up with it because of a mix-up at the rental place. I'm in Arizona, but the car had Nevada plates.

While driving home from work and within a mile of my house, I was pulled over by Border Patrol. The agent approached my car rather cautiously, shining his flashlight into my eyes, but when he got a good look at me he lowered the flashlight and the look of disappointment mixed with disgust on his face was so hilarious that I couldn't help laughing. Middle-aged, corporate-looking women with cases of cat food in the front seat don't really fit the drug-smuggler profile.

This is EXACTLY why I was furious with my then DF when he bought a car from a lot that I thought was shady and shortly after got a late registration notice for the car he sold. The car lot salesman had said they would send in the paperwork to DMV to change registration but hadn't. I called and asked about it and they asked which car. I told them and they're said "oh yeah I remember that car - we already moved it to Mexico. We'll get the paperwork in." Yeah, heard that before. I made DF fill out the needed forms that day and submit electronically. All we needed was for hem to be using it for drug runs (the car fit the stereotype) and have it still registered to DF.

My husband loves this one:He and I we were driving down the main street and he was at the wheel. I was in the front passenger seat. We were pulled over by an officer who went to the driver's side and asked my husband, "Who is your passenger?" He said, "My wife" and I showed him my ID. My husband loves that he could have said, "I've never seen her before in my life...she jumped into the car at the last stop light!" (He probably would have gotten in trouble for razzing a policeman).

I never did know what that was about.

Logged

I've never knitted anything I could recognize when it was finished. Actually, I've never finished anything, much to my family's relief.

segue to my memory of high school bf using his dad's car, found a dark empty road, and soon a cop shined his flashlight and told us to, uh, move on. Just as well; raging hormones in a car on dark road = trouble.

I've been pulled over heaps of times on the bike for 'random licence checks'. It's no big deal, but it's truly surprising the number of people that ride without having their licence on them.

Probably the oddest occasion was a couple of years ago at Cowes, Phillip Island, during one of the practice days for World Superbikes. I got pulled over on the main drag into town, ostensibly for a random licence and registration check, but in reality because the cop wanted to check out my bike - yes, he told me quite openly.

We had a lovely chat on the side of the road, meanwhile several hundred riders went past, each looking over and giving me a surrepticious 'everything OK?' signal, and me nodding back at them. It's rather touching how the motorcycling community looks out for each other.

A few years ago when I was living in Tasmania we were on our way to work in rush hour, myself and my parents, and we saw a huge queue of cars up the road. We thought it might be an accident, but when we finally crawled towards town we saw the cop cars.

They were checking licenses.

They made half the town late firework so they could catch six people with expires licenses.

My daughter and son-in-law got pulled over several times when they were newlyweds. They were both 20 (in fact, SIL is a few months younger than DD), but he was 6'3" and 250 pounds and always had a very serious expression, which made him look a lot older, whereas she was 5' and weighed about 90 pounds. Reason for the proposed ticket ? - He apparently should not have had his young daughter riding in the front seat without a seatbelt.

My bf at the time was driving and I was passenger. we pulled out of an empty secluded parking lot (make-out spot) and we were pulled over and I had to show my ID. Apparently I looked significantly too young and he thought some saturatory rape situation had been going on. I was 21 at the time (bf was about 22).

Another time I was pulled over, and it was a legitimate reason but it never occurred to me, even when the cop asked if i knew why I was pulled over. I'm from NYC. I was driving in Canada, coming home from a Blue Jays game (we had a room in Buffalo) and I happened to be driving in the left hand lane. The cop explained to me it was a "passing lane" and let me go when he saw my address. I'd only ever heard of that in driver's ed a decade earlier - no way in NYC could our traffic volume justify leaving a lane generally unused for all traffic, I'd totally forgotten about it being a thing.

I got pulled over in a nearby town (most people call the town Useless because the real name sounds close) I had two registration stickers on my car. One expired and one brand-new. The expired one would not come off for me, and my car inspection was due the next month, so I figured the inspection guy could scrape off the expired one. But, the cop pulled me over saying that was illegal.

Before this, I'd felt a little sorry for Useless. After this, I decided the town needs to be made fun of.

Speaking of having chills (from the previous poster). I once had a gun pulled on me during a traffic stop. It was a low point in my life, and I was in the bad area of Fort Worth to sell some plasma. They turned me down because I'd once been anemic. One of the workers there made fun of me as I was leaving. (I was very upset) The place was in the middle of the road and the road was divided and not well lit. I took a left, not realizing I was going the wrong way. (Street was empty) Then the light ahead changed and block of cars started coming at me. I went "Oh crap" and turned around, then got in the turn lane to get going the right way. I was pulled over. I had my purse (which had a strap of gold chains) in my hand and I was swinging my arm around to point myself toward my window. When I heard "freeze", and I was about 3 inches away from the largest gun ever. Only reason I didn't pee myself was that those muscles "froze" too. He was really nice. He'd seen the glint of my purse straps and thought it was a gun.

I brought a new (second hand) car about six months ago. Previous car was very old, beat up and the sort of car that is often used as a 'hoon' car by young blokes. In the three years I had it, I was never pulled over, not once. Since I've had the new one EVERY time I pass a cop I get pulled over. No idea why. Car is a plain, white falcon wagon. There's dozens of them around. It's not like they're after the previous owner either. He was a pensioner who used it to tow his caravan twice a year

I went home every day for lunch. On the way home I had car trouble so switched cars to go back to work. A 1966 Old 442 with a Hurst 4 on the floor.

I was pulled over at the end of the freeway entrance ramp going back to work. Had no idea why til the officer got to the window and saw a 60 year old woman driving this hot car. He told me I was coming down the ramp at 60 MPH. Giving him my best Mom look, I told him I doubted it as I couldn't shift that fast.

No ticket - just told me to watch it. I'm certain he thought I was a young kid (in Dad's classic car) out for a sneak joy ride.